Meta's Muse Agent Launches After $14 Billion AI Turnaround

Last April, Mark Zuckerberg got angry. He felt Meta had lost the race against OpenAI's ChatGPT. Their new AI model, Llama 4, failed immediately. Developers slammed its speed and efficiency. Yann LeCun told The Financial Times that Zuckerberg lost confidence in his team. That moment changed everything.

Zuckerberg entered what he called 'founder mode.' He moved his desk closer to a reshuffled group. The company spent $14.3 billion on Scale AI. They hired Alexandr Wang as a key leader. Rumors of huge bonuses circulated as they chased top talent from rivals.

Results are finally appearing this month. Meta launched Muse, an action-oriented personal agent. It buys items and books travel for customers. Apple's App Store saw 2.5 million downloads in just weeks. Stock prices soared high. Zuckerberg was back on top again.

He wants to make connecting with people easier. He told Alex Heath he set up his agent to help him bake with his daughter, Aurelia. It sends ingredients via Instacart every Sunday. 'I want it to help me be a better father,' he said. It helps him show up for friends too.

Hype brought new worries though. Critics focus on data and privacy risks. The agent needs access to text messages and passwords to work well. Wang warned about leaks or deleted emails in an interview ahead of the launch. A Meta spokesperson told the Daily Mail that users always give permission first. 'Muse was built to be safe, secure, and private,' they said. It runs on its own dedicated computer in the cloud. No one else can see your data.

Meta insists that every single password sits in a secure storage area, kept safe by Muse without anyone ever seeing the sensitive details. Users can tweak their privacy settings whenever they want and order the AI agent to 'forget' specific memories it no longer needs to keep. Yet despite these promises of control, Amazon has blocked Muse AI from shopping on its site entirely. The reason given was simple: Meta did not provide enough notice beforehand.

An Amazon spokesperson told the Daily Mail that third-party applications offering to buy things for customers must operate openly and respect a service provider's decision to participate or not. They argue it is fairly straightforward logic. Amazon stated Muse needs the 'same obligations' as food delivery apps and restaurants taking online orders to ensure a safe, secure, and reliable customer experience. The company requested that Meta remove Amazon from this setup immediately.

The spokesperson added that agentic third-party applications like Muse carry those same duties. They claim they have asked Meta to pull back after raising concerns about how credentials are captured and stored. They also flagged issues with the way account data gets scraped. When pressed on these specific worries, Meta offered no comment.

Meanwhile, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman noted that Meta has tried to poach his people with jaw-dropping bonuses, a claim some involved parties have disputed. This happens while Zuckerberg showed no signs of the controversy weighing on him as he stepped out on stage this week. He launched a new Tamagotchi-style keyring for Muse, hoping it will capitalize on the hype surrounding the app. The move may well raise eyebrows after Meta recently agreed to pay $18 billion over the next decade to settle a claim that its platforms were designed to cause addictions in children. The company did not agree there had been any wrongdoing but agreed to limit how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram.

The Muse Charm, as it is branded, features playful avatars that users can carry around and speak to without having to unlock their phone. It is a clear attempt to grab attention. But analysts say even if Meta is enjoying success with Muse, the risk of competitors launching similar products in the coming months means it cannot afford to rest on its laurels. Meta's AI teams are said to be working upwards of 70 hours a week. After Zuckerberg's cutthroat moves last year it must be hard to forget their boss's ruthless streak.